The padding-left CSS property sets the width of the padding area to the left of an element.

/* <length> values */ padding-left: 0.5em; padding-left: 0; padding-left: 2cm;  /* <percentage> value */ padding-left: 10%;  /* Global values */ padding-left: inherit; padding-left: initial; padding-left: revert; padding-left: unset; 

padding-left

The padding-left CSS property sets the width of the padding area to the left of an element.

An element's padding area is the space between its content and its border.

Note: The padding property can be used to set paddings on all four sides of an element with a single declaration.

Syntax

/* <length> values */ padding-left: 0.5em; padding-left: 0; padding-left: 2cm;  /* <percentage> value */ padding-left: 10%;  /* Global values */ padding-left: inherit; padding-left: initial; padding-left: revert; padding-left: unset; 

The padding-left property is specified as a single value chosen from the list below. Unlike margins, negative values are not allowed for padding.

Values

<length>

The size of the padding as a fixed value. Must be nonnegative.

<percentage>

The size of the padding as a percentage, relative to the width of the containing block. Must be nonnegative.

Formal definition

Initial value	0
Applies to	all elements, except table-row-group, table-header-group, table-footer-group, table-row, table-column-group and table-column. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line.
Inherited	no
Percentages	refer to the width of the containing block
Computed value	the percentage as specified or the absolute length
Animation type	a length

Formal syntax

<length> | <percentage>

Examples

Setting left padding using pixels and percentages

.content { padding-left: 5%; } .sidebox { padding-left: 10px; } 

Specifications

Specification
CSS Box Model Module Level 3 # padding-physical

See also

Introduction to the CSS basic box model padding-top, padding-right, padding-bottom and the padding shorthand The mapped logical properties: padding-block-start, padding-block-end, padding-inline-start, and padding-inline-end and the shorthands padding-block and padding-inline

Last modified: Aug 12, 2021, by MDN contributors

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